General Motors buys manufacturer of Cruise sensors

US car manufacturer General Motors has expanded its self-drive cars division in buying sensor manufacturer Cruise. Cruise will continue to operate as an independent unit, within GM. Thanks to this deal, the manufacture of autonomous vehicles should be accelerated.

Many car manufacturers see it as a growth market, and are therefore working hard to ensure that they don’t miss the boat in the future. GM is also working hard on this, as evidenced by the acquisition of Cruise. The two companies are not letting on just how much money is involved in the deal, though US media has mentioned a sum of one billion dollars.

Lyft

Within GM, a separate division had already been created to focus exclusively on self-drive cars, and was committed to working with Lyft, a car-share company, whose competitors include Uber. Lyft, together with the American car manufacturer, wants to work on self-drive vehicles.

General Motors is one of the largest manufacturers in the world. Their headquarters are based in the US city of Detroit, and brands that they put on the market include Opel, Chevrolet, Hummer, Pontiac and Cadillac. The company is looking to distinguish itself in the self-drive vehicle segment too – along with many others in the industry. Their efforts should get a solid boost from the purchase of Cruise Automation Inc.